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The MJM Offers A Whopper
By Greg L | 6 April 2007 | Illegal Aliens, Manassas City | 15 Comments
You know you must on the right side of an issue when the editorial board of the Manassas Journal-Messenger publishes an editorial saying you’re wrong. That’s especially the case when that editorial implies that you’re on the road to hell, that your efforts will be fruitless, and to bolster their arguments they start trotting out quotes from Kurt Vonnegut. The hysterical tone here should not only provide for considerable amusement among Manassas residents, but any remaining doubts about whether the editorial board has become a dedicated cheerleader for illegal alien apologists should now be firmly laid to rest.
As the story on the formation of Help Save Manassas broke in a significant majority of the major regional media outlets, the Manassas Journal-Messenger stayed strangely silent. This was a story that got the attention of the Washington Post, the Washington Times, NBC4, WJLA, The Gainesville Times, WMAL, News Channel 8, and other newspapers, radio and television stations. Many of these media outlets haven’t paid much attention to the Manassas area since Lorena Bobbit decided to try her hand at cosmetic surgery, but on this story they showed up in force. While the two leading regional newspapers demonstrate the significance of this story, and I am giving television interviews to television reporters one block away from their offices, right here in it’s own backyard the Manassas Journal-Messenger apparently thinks stories on tatoos and the financial position of a local health club are newsworthy. Citizens overflowing the city’s council chambers because of their concerns that we have not adequately addressed the issue of illegal immigration somehow is not. One might confuse this steadfast neglect of a story as bias, and I can understand why.
That impression would probably be solidified given the numerous inaccuracies in the editorial.
Not having bothered with actually speaking with anyone involved with Help Save Manassas, the Journal-Messenger makes the assumption that the organizations legislative agenda will inevitably result in pressuring the city to enact ordinances that will result in lawsuits. One problem with this hysterical cry of “the sky is falling”, though: there isn’t a legislative agenda yet. How something which doesn’t even yet exist will inescapably harm the legal position of the city of Manassas isn’t exactly explained, unless we are to surmise that their implication of the Devil himself being in control of the organizations legislative priorities is correct. I can assure them that is not the case here, and would suggest that the editorial board might want to pray on this one a little bit more.
While the MJM seems to find every possible way to talk about how illegal aliens are nice people and how Help Save Manassas will somehow victimize them, they refuse to recognize how their own readers are actually victimized by illegal aliens on an ongoing basis. No mention of how unskilled local citizens are having their wages depressed by large numbers of illegal aliens trying to find employment. No mention of how overcrowded single family residences are depressing property values, degrading the community’s quality of life, and posing a public safety risk. No mention of how falsified documents used by illegal aliens are fostering identity theft and trashing the credit histories of thousands of honest American citizens. And no mention about how unlicensed and uninsured illegal alien drivers are causing deaths and property damage on our roads, how criminal aliens are committing a stunning number of violent crimes, nor now gangs of illegal aliens are terrorizing some of our communities. The MJM asserts that illegal aliens have not come here to harm anyone. The demonstrable fact is that they are, an “inconvenient truth” which the editorial board refuses to report.
The “this is a federal problem” talking point proffered by the left predictably makes it’s appearance, which over the past months has been solidly disproven. Legislation which would deny in-state tuition for illegal aliens, public funding for organizations that support illegal aliens, and establishment of the Section 287(g) program in other localities and statewide have all been offered, and failed because citizens haven’t done enough to encourage legislators to support these initiatives. Localities may consider ordinances to require that business owners demonstrate the legal status of their employees, require employer participation in the “Basic Pilot Program” of the Social Security Administration in order to prevent document fraud, crack down on unlicensed drivers, and ensure that renters have legal status, for example. There is a rich palette of legislative alternatives for state and local government to choose from which clearly demonstrates how ridiculous the argument is that local government should stand by and do nothing since the federal government in many ways has stood by and done nothing. There is much that can be done, and I’m pretty sure that Help Save Manassas will responsibly choose a number of initiatives from this selection.
This summary of the editor’s position pretty much sums up this ridiculous piece:
We fear that groups like Help Save Manassas focus too much on fomenting a problem where they’re unable to provide an actionable solution and not enough on the human beings involved. As a result, there is a chance that relations between immigrants and citizens will become more strained and antagonistic.
Fear. Fear that citizens who now have joined together to voice their legitimate concerns about the issues that affect their daily lives may foment some sort of problem and not concern themselves sufficiently with “the human beings involved” who are breaking the law. I’ve rarely seen the Manassas Journal Messenger express these concerns in regard to those who drive drunk, kidnap children or engage in gang activity, who are also “human beings involved”. For all other classes of criminal behavior, the Manassas Journal-Messenger’s editorial board seems to ignore the plight of these poor lawbreakers, who have families and are just trying to make a living. When the discussion concerns illegal aliens, they fear for the plight of the criminal. What about the plight of the actual victims here, the citizens and legal residents who suffer because of the actions of these criminals?
No, it’s the victims of criminal behavior who are on the road to hell here, according to the Manassas Journal-Messenger. Not the criminals.
Note: This post reflects the personal opinion of the author, and does not necessarily represent the views of the membership of Help Save Manassas.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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It might be the MJM’S way of scaring off potential members. Like Greg said, the left says that we hate immigrants. Not true. Most Americans embrace immigrants, just not illegal ones.
These are the tactics used by all illegal alien apologists to keep people tucked away because they don’t want to be called racist. Well, because you want what is best for your country, state, and city, you need to get involved.
YOU know that you aren’t racist.
If a group of people were robbing banks because they were poor and couldn’t feed their families, all of us would expect them to be locked up. You might feel for them and understand why they did it, but it is still ILLEGAL and they should be punished.
Illegals had no problem protesting in the millions last year. My question is, why not go back to your country of origin and demand your government start reform there? They might just listen to you if you showed up by the millions.
I wonder if the MJM will print any rebuttals to the editorial.
It should come as no shock that the MJM, with regard to our area newpapers is:
#1 Too Damn Lazy to bother speaking with the organization prior to taking its particualr editorial stand.
#2: Taking the side of illegal aliens over those of the legal residents and citizens of Manassas.
#3: That they are, as usual, the last ones to wake up to what is going on in their own backyard.
The decline of the editorial board continues since Alfred B.’s departure.
Fear is sitting back and doing nothing. Thanks to the Journal Messenger story last night , I and many others are joing the cause….STANDING UP FOR THE TRUTH~
I think that this editorial is actually a good thing. It takes the talking points of those who favor illegal immigrants over citizens and demonstrates how ridiculous they really are. I don’t know how anyone in their right mind could argue for the rights of illegals over legal immigrants and citizens.
HSM is going to be an orginization that demonstrates no hatred towards human beings or racist feelings. It is simply going to help ensure that taxpaying, legal immigrants, and citizens are not stuck with the ridiculous costs imposed upon us by the illegal community.
Citizen action causes actionable legislation and accountability from our representatives. Would the MJM have us sit back and allow those who break the law free education, free healthcare, welfare, and other services at the expense of legal taxpayers? We are all affected by the inaction of our representatives and we must stand up for our rights.
I am sick to death of those who support illegals at the expense of my family and I’m looking forward to doing what I can to support HSM. Due to family constraints I wasn’t able to attend on Tuesday but this organization is something actionable whose time has come.
Not a surprise at all that the MJM is in favor of illegals. The editoral board has shown again and again they are out of touch with the common person on the street. They have also once again shown their envy of the Washington COMPost. Not to be out down by the far larger and more powerful paper, the MJM just had to belly up to the table and attempt to show they belong in the company of other liberal rags.
I suppose they will be happy to face the family of the two girls killed by the illegal, and explain why HSM is a group that is not needed.
“The editorial board has shown again and again they are out of touch with the common person on the street.”
Of course they are. The liberal elite are destined to lead the common man, who is too stupid, or who has been brainwashed by Talk Radio and FNC. It is up to the paternalistic left to make sure that in exercising their constitutional rights, the ignorant masses don’t accidentally hurt themselves. What do they know? They foolishly believe in God, Country and Flag follow the laws and expect others to do so. Who are they to expect government to protect them from terrorists and criminals? Government hasn’t the time for this. The government needs to be protecting citizens from their own self-destructive tendencies.
The liberal elite, of which the editorial staff of the MJM are proud members, want you to be worried about the REAL emergency…trans-fats and global warming.
The MJM will continue its slide to irrelevancy. This is just another demonstrable slip.
Let’s see, why did I cancel my subscription to the MJM? Oh, I remember NOW.
If the MJM were to be printing positive stories about HSM I might be concerned. The MJM is so far out of touch with the legal population of Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County that I truly do not know how they stay in business. This newspaper is truly a disappointment. Maybe they should move to Ronoake.
Regarding:
“I suppose they will be happy to face the family of the two girls killed by the illegal”
It pains me to say that I truly believe our community will see such a case. The odds are in favor of this happening here with the traffic conditions what they are, and the high numbers of illegals. We have been VERY fortunate that it hasn’t already happened. I could name several accidents in which illegals have killed themselves in PW County, it’s just a matter of time before the unthinkable does happen! Keep your children close, teach them to be alert, and pray.
Keep it up MJM, piss off some more Manassas area residents, get their attention.
May GOD help save manassas……..
I think we should hold a protest at their Manassas office. We should hold up signs proclaiming the paper supports criminals, put a little pressure on them so to speak. It is also something to thing about doing for any business that is known to support illegal immigration.
One thing I did forget to mention in my other post. As usual the MJM not only fails to provide a better solution to the illegal immigration issue, it fails to mention any solution. At least HSM is attempting to find a solution and or ways to make it harder for illegals to live in the area.
Editorals like this are why I cancelled my suscription years ago. But they are so inept, I’ve been getting ever since.
After numerous attempts to get them to stop delivering this rag, I gave up.
DANG! A freebie in this day and age?
If you REALLY want to put pressure on them that they’d actually care about…pressure their advertisers to pull their accounts. That’ll put the fear of their God (the almighty dollar) in ‘em!
if the MJM continues taking this kind of stance, it is going to move from irrelevant to ludicrous as our organization continues to grow. The taxpayers of this community have had it up to here with this unsupportable situation and now they are going to have a forum and a vehicle to push for action.
The MJM prints a lot of fun human interest stories about local children’s plays and kittens stuck in trees. If they are this clueless, maybe they should leave editorializing on high stakes issues like this to the big city boys.
Why would Greg Letiecq the founder of Help Save Manassas take time away from his everyday life to do something about illegal immigration?
I know a woman who refers to herself as a “resident alien.” When she and her husband came to this country from Guatemala they had to leave their youngest son behind because he was too sick to endure the move. Once here she became pregnant with their first daughter and Medicaid paid the bill. The son back home was brought to Virginia about a year ago, with the help of Medicaid, he was placed on daily kidney dialysis and just a couple months ago received a kidney transplant. He is doing very well and expects to be attending public school soon with their other son.
She is now pregnant with their 4th child and unable to see a doctor because this time Medicaid is asking for her husband’s pay stubs of which they cannot produce. She is in her 7th trimester and has received no medical attention but she is very confident that she will get her Medicaid card. The family lives in a one bedroom apartment in Stafford. She smiles while she tells me her story. Her husband hasn’t worked in three months, they receive welfare for the rent, food stamps for food and free education for their children, and she loves life in America. She drives a new minivan and her husband a “fancy” $45,000 truck!
Let’s compare. My husband and I are legal citizens and small business owners, supposedly living the American dream. We pay thousands of dollars in Federal, state, and local taxes monthly. We don’t rely on any public services, not even schools. According to our “income bracket” we’re rich and able to contribute 36% of our income in taxes. That rate fails to include the hidden taxes and fees we pay in sales tax, gas tax, cable tax, phone tax, etc. Taxes, assessments and fees are out of control! We pay it; though it doesn’t mean we can afford it.
Our health insurance topped $900 per month; we’re still paying off our student loans and would love to take a real vacation someday. It is time to put a stop to out of control government spending, find ways to lower the financial burden on resident and our government by privatizing services, reforming welfare, enforcing illegal immigration and keep more of our money here in the United States where it belongs.
With the working population shrinking it is inevitable that we will see the demise of small and family owned businesses, and healthcare, vacations and retirement will become a luxury. We have already seen and will continue to see an increase in bankruptcy, foreclosures, credit card debt, and uninsured Americans. We must find ways to lower the tax burdens on the citizen’s of this Nation, NOW!
We need more people like Greg Letiecq who are willing to take a stand, promote awareness and demand legal enforcement from Federal government and our politicians!
Screw MJM, it’s not a real newspaper anyway!
I say we start a boycott against the MJM!